This chunky and edgy necklace that I hand made is now one of my go to necklaces for a night out. I used tortoise shell beads with crystal spikes and pearls individually wire wrapped onto sturdy gold chains. I love mixing the edgy crystal spikes with the more classic pearls and gold chains. I love this necklace for dressing up a casual outfit or topping off a fancy little black dress.

Friendship bracelets bring back memories of long road trips with my family, driving through Europe visiting some of the most beautiful places on earth. To wile the hours away, my sister and I would knot our friendship bracelets, and try out fun and new designs, which we would then bestow upon our friends with much pride… This season, to my joy, friendship bracelets have been trending, both on the runway and on street–but these bracelets are the next-level-bracelets. With new textures and with added hardware, these bracelets are stacked with bangles, watches, and fine jewelry to create a slightly more casual/bohemian feel to any outfit. Below are some examples of ways that the friendship bracelet can be worn in a very grown-up way.

Stack the bracelets with chunky chains and hardware for a more edgy look…

COLOR: you need to know what color you are, and also that different rules apply to makeup than to clothes–I wear bright, jewel-toned cool colors very well, and tend to look odd and washed out in warm colors or pale colors. However, my face has a lot of pink and red in it, so to neutralize the pink tone in my skin, I tend to wear foundations with a yellow base and a lot of peach blushes. The ideal color of skin is neutral, so I neutralize my skin! 🙂 This makes you radiant and glow–especially if you wear clothes that complement your skin tone!

As a general rule, you want to have one base color for all your products–so if you are wearing brown/gold eyeshadow, then you want warm colors such as a coral lipstick and a peach blush. Similarly, if you are wearing cool colors, such as silver/blue/cool browns/black, than you are going to want to complement them with a cool blush and lipstick.

WARM COLORS:

**Please Excuse the Toilet Paper! 🙂 #FAIL

As you can see, all these colors complement each other and even though the shades range from light warm coral/pink to dark warm wine to bright red to peach to nude, they all have that warm base, so they look wonderful together! Below is a gallery of me wearing the different lipsticks with the different blushes and bronzers. As you can see, they make me look pretty healthy and glowy, even though I am exhausted and a bit sick!

Coral Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Orange Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Orange Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Nude Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Nude Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Red Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Red Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Red Lips, Red Blush and Bronzer

Red Lips and Peach Blush

Red Lips and Peach Blush

Orange Lips and Peach Blush

Orange Lips and Peach Blush

Nude Lips and Peach Lips

Nude Lips and Peach Lips

COOL COLORS:

So as you can see, the same goes for the pinks! Below is a gallery of me wearing the different lipsticks with the different blushes. As you can see, I look washed out and fatigued.

Bright Fuchsia Lips and Cheeks

I LOOK WASHED OUT

Pink Cheeks and Red Lips

Pink Blush Warmed with Bronzer and Pink Lips

Pink Cheeks and Red Lips

Fuchsia Cheeks and Pink Lips

Bright Fuchsia Lips and Cheeks

So, I hope this was helpful! I wanted to change my eye look too, but I was too tired. 😉 However, the same rules apply, so play and enjoy!

People always ask me what makeup brushes they really need and where they can find inexpensive ones, as the average woman does not want to spend $200 on makeup brushes.

First, here is a list of makeup brushes that I personally think that everyone should have:

Foundation Brush

Powder Brush

Bronzer/Blush Brush

2 Eyeshadow Brushes: One flat one for applying the eyeshadow, and one fluffy one for blending everything out.

I have been painting a lot recently, and a couple months ago when I was buying paint brushes at Hobby Lobby, I came across The Master’s Touch brushes. They have a goat hair collection that are very similar to the MAC goat hair brushes, but are less than half the price. The prices range from $2.99-Aprox. $8.99. They also have super expensive ones, but the ones that I bought were all under $10. They also go on sale all the time, so you can find even better deals then they already are at full price!

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I use the smallest one (#10) to blend out my eyeshadow, I use size 14 for powder or highlighting, I use the oval mops for contouring, and size 16 for blush. I am VERY happy with the quality and practicality of these brushes, and I definitely recommend them!

There is one that I couldn’t find online that is very similar to the MAC 217 brush, but you will have to look at the stores for them.

You can use the flat top synthetic brushes as foundation brush too!

As I said before, I bought mine at Hobby Lobby, and I will list them all below:

Everyone knows that French women are undeniably chic. But why? I will endeavor to show why I think they are so chic, and share some ideas of how to incorporate some French styling tips into your style.

Obviously, it all started with Coco Chanel and her revolutionary couture fashions for women. She was the first to incorporate men’s wear into women’s fashion, starting a revolution in women’s fashion. The way she mixed men’s materials and cuts with the feminine details of pearls, red lipstick and perfume was immediately attractive to everyone.

Since then, French women have always mixed the structured look of men’s wear with super feminine details, to create a simple yet powerful look. Below you see two women at a cafe wearing a masculine Pea Coat and a turtle neck, but with very feminine delicate details such as their handbags, their shoes, their hair etc.

Now we morph into the modern French woman: she is cool, classy, elegant with a hint of rock and roll edge and men’s wear as well. The epitome of this look is of course “Les Voguettes:” the editors and staff of French Vogue. They are almost always seen with skinny jeans, men’s dress shirts half tucked in, feminine pointy stilettos or kitten heels, messy rock-chic hair, and minimal makeup–although they love to sport a red lip or smoky eye. The effect is a “oh-I-just-threw-this-together” look that is simple, attractive and modern.

Although French women like to seem as if they just rolled out of bed, they also love the structure and elegance of menswear, which juxtaposes against their messy hair and untucked shirts.

Then you have your classic French girl, who wears a lot of dark monochrome outfits, which make her look tall, slender, and elegant. However, as you can see, there is still an element of messiness, which makes the look seem very natural, instead of being too prim and proper. They love to take extremely prim and proper preppy looks (such as the classic pointy black kitten heel), and wear them with an edginess and messiness, which grounds the look. You can see the girl below’s hair and makeup are quite messy, while the rest of her outfit is quite sophisticated and classic.

You know those days when you have morning classes or work, but you just NEEEEED those extra 15 minutes of sleep? Then you wake up with 15 minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, make coffee…. and no time to put on your makeup. This is when a multi-tasking product is super useful–I speak from experience (I had an 8:15 am class last semester)… I have now taught myself to put on a decent face of makeup in less than 3 minutes.

This is a very natural look–one that I created in about 2 1/2 mins, so this isn’t a complicated glamorous look…just an everyday look.

I am featuring the NYX Blush in Taupe today, but you could use a bronzer or any brown or grey-based blush instead. I prefer using grey or taupe-based products because they mimic the natural shadows of your face, so they tend to look more natural. A bronzer will give you a more sun-kissed bronzy look, which is slightly less natural looking on my fair skin, but on darker skin it would look more natural.

One product 4 ways:

1: As Blush

2: As Contour

3: As Eyeshadow (Crease Color)

4: As Eyebrow Powder

So, I used the Taupe blush to contour my under my cheekbones and nose, I used it as blush on my cheeks, and then I used it as a brow powder to fill them in and create a darker brow, and then finally as a eyeshadow (I put some gold shimmer on the mobile part of the lid after). Needless to say…it’s super simple and cheap!